HOW TO

Display a text file in its own thread

Last Published: April 25, 2020

Procedure

Summary:

A text file is displayed on the screen using the &POPUP directive or setting the &FULLSCREEN directive to &FULLSCREEN &POPUP. When a popup window appears, it immediately pauses the application until the window is dismissed. How can the popup window be changed so the application is not paused while the popup window is present?
Procedure:

Popup windows require manual dismissal to return control to the application. This does not allow the popup window to remain visible while the application is running. Nevertheless, this is possible if the text file is converted to a menu file and called on a thread:

&THREAD &CREATE <THREAD_NAME> &MENU <TEXT_FILE>

In order to convert the text file to a menu file, a 7 must be inserted into the file as the first character on the first line of the file. Note that this character (the '7') should be on a new line. If it is inserted at the beginning of the existing first line in the text file, all subsequent text in that line will be interpreted as a comment by the AML processor, and will not be displayed.

Notes:

It is recommended to use the "file.menu" naming convention.

Use this option at your own risk. If special characters like '%' are present in the text file, an error will be returned. So each text file has to be tested before it can be converted into a menu file. See the &LISTCHARS and &SETCHARS command references for more information on special AML characters.

Article ID:000001355

Software:
  • ArcMap 8 x
  • Legacy Products

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